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Outdoors: The Attractions of Making Lures at Home

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PROMPTED in the main by frugality, I have been turning out striped bass and bluefish surf-casting lures, both jigs and popping plugs, in my home workshop.

With such store-bought lures now averaging $5 each, I have found it increasingly painful to watch one of them sail far out over the ocean when the line parts for various reasons, including bad casting form. I can count on losing two a season myself, but when I supply gear for guests, some of whom are less than expert, I have watched twice that number fly away in a single morning. Homemade, the plugs cost about 50 cents each for materials and the jigs even less.

I make both slab-sided or cylindrical popping plugs, using either three-quarter-inch white pine or one-inch birch dowels. The dowel plugs are four and one-half inches long. The others - flat on two sides and in the shape of an elongated tear - are six inches long, tapering from an inch and a half wide on the hook end to one-quarter of an inch on the other. Weighted with a five-eighths-inch lead plug on its aft end, the teardrop plug weighs about three ounces. With one lead plug that is seven-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, the dowel lure weighs two ounces, and with two of them it weighs three ounces.

With both lures, cut the stock to proper length and drill the holes for the lead plug or plugs. The dowel stock should be six inches long at this point to allow for lathe work. Mark the centers of both ends of the wood and drill a one-eighth-inch hole from end to end. This is for the wire that, in addition to providing something to which both hook and line can be fastened, also anchors the lead plugs in place.

Drilling this hole is the trickiest part of the operation. Don't try to go all the way through in one pass, because the bit usually wanders. Clamp the stock to your workbench and drill from one end until you reach one of the lead plug holes, then repeat the maneuver from the other end. Even if the holes don't line up, the wire can be bent, via the orifice provided by the hole for the lead plug, and pushed all the way through.

The slab-sided plug should be cut into its teardrop shape on a jigsaw after the hole for the wire has been drilled, and, at the same stage, the dowel plug goes to the lathe. Round off its aft end, which is at the lathe's headstock, and turn a slight concavity into its forward end. I use a small woodcarver's gouge for the latter. Remove the plug from the lathe, cut off the excess on its back end and round it off on a bench sander.

At this point, both plugs are ready for wire and lead. I have used stainless steel wire for this, but now favor brass wire, which can be had from welding supply firms one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter. I have a small electric melting pot that I also use for casting bullets for my muzzleloading rifles. My lead comes from various sources, including the town dump, although of late I have been using up lead pellets that were originally purchased for reloading shotgun shells for duck and goose hunting. The ban against lead pellets for waterfowling will soon embrace the entire nation. I also use lead pellets for molding anchors for duck decoys.

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With wire inserted and a loop on one end - it is easier to form one of the loops at that stage of the game -clamp the plug to the workbench and pour the lead. Put a piece of flat metal under the teardrop plug. The bottoms of the holes in the round plugs can be sealed with a small piece of aluminum duct tape. I use stainless steel split rings to fasten hook to loop. Whether its a treble or single hook is up to you. A treble will hook more fish. A single will hold more of those that do get hooked and is much easier to extract from the mouth of a frantic bluefish.

I've been making replicas of Ferron jigs this spring because a search through my gear revealed that I was down to my last one. Often extraordinarily effective on blues and stripers, the original Ferron - it hasn't been manufactured for 25 or 30 years -was made of lead or a blend of lead and tin, and casts like a bullet, something that's important if the fish are more than 100 yards offshore or if a fierce wind is in your face.

The three- and four-ounce Hopkins and Kastmaster jigs are excellent and would perform the same role, but I am partial to the classic Ferron with its a keel-like bottom and flat top. Its single hook - adorned with feathers, bucktail or pork rind -swings, point up, on a pin from the aft end. At its forward end, the jig has a hole for line or leader that is reinforced with a hollow brass rivet.

Because the Ferron has a flat top, a mold for it can be made in one part. Mix up some plaster of paris or Durabond, enough to fill a small box or carton of appropriate size about an inch deep. Level off the gunk and press the Ferron you wish to duplicate in it until the lure is flush with the surface. After the mixture cures - it will take several days unless you put it in a low oven - remove your lure and you have your mold. If you can't find a proper pin for the hook -I couldn't - you'll have to use a loop of brass wire in its stead. That wire will float on the molten lead during the pouring, so you'll have to devise some way to hold it down.

I was stymied in my Ferron project for a while because I couldn't find hollow brass rivets, or grommets, of the right size for the hole on the lure's front end. The solution was a gift from the gods that watch over tinkerers: an empty .22 short cartridge case. I drilled a hole for it in the nose of the jig, inserted the case in the hole and ground its open end down - it took only seconds - on a bench sander until it protruded only about an eighth of an inch, enough for crimping. The solid end of the case was, of course, held in place by its rim. All that remained to do was drill a hole through the base of the case.

The lead-tin Ferron I used for my mold weighs about three ounces; its pure lead replicas average an ounce more. Pure lead turns nearly black when subjected to saltwater oxidation. I can either give them a soft sheen by polishing them with sand before I start fishing, or I can spray them whatever color I choose. I am putting single hooks on them - some with bucktail or the tougher artificial stuff called Fishair - and I am ready for those dark nights when drenched with spray and enveloped by the roaring of the wind-driven surf I will be able to reach beyond the last breakers where the fish will be cruising.

A version of this article appears in print on May 9, 1988, on Page C00011 of the National edition with the headline: Outdoors: The Attractions of Making Lures at Home. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe